Best September Art

Where to see art in Houston now: 10 exhibits and shows opening in September

We’ve got art parties all over the city this month, as the first of the fall blockbuster exhibitions open, and we also celebrate some institutional and artist anniversaries and birthdays. If that wasn’t enough, Houston finally has a big art fair once again, with Untitled Art bringing in extraordinary presentations of work from galleries and exhibitors across the globe. Collectors won’t want to miss these four days of special projects, markets, installations, and special events.

"Perhaps Just a Trick of the Light” at Lawndale Art Center (now through October 4)
Immerse yourself in this installation from multidisciplinary artist JR Roykovich that features bright lights, fog, and low visibility. Roykovich uses light, lens-based media, and found objects to build environments that expand viewers’ sense of geographic and metaphoric space, perception, and individual experience. For this installation, Roykovich adopts some of the images and symbols of queer nightlife and the motifs of paranormal phenomena to reflect on personal pilgrimages and ultimately turn Lawndale’s John M. O’Quinn gallery into a mothership of investigation.

“Makers of Legacy” at Mitochondria Gallery (now through October 4)
This show of bonded marble sculptures by Nigerian sculptor Ejiro Fenegal celebrates African women. Rooted in the cultural landscape of Africa, the works were sculpted to honor the complexity of what it means to be a woman and remain strong. Bonded marble serves as a metaphor for both strength and unity, reflecting the resilience that binds generations together. Fenegal’s work serves as both a tribute and acknowledgment of the women who came before, the women shaping the present, and the women whose legacies will guide the future.

“The Journey to Everything” at Houston Museum of African American Culture (now through December 15)
Featuring the work of Philadelphia-based Neo-African Abstract Expressionist painter, poet, novelist, philanthropist, and Tony Award-winning producer Danny Simmons, the exhibition takes viewers on an adventure into Simmons’s poetic painted worlds. This “Journey” explores themes of diaspora, ancestral memory, and Black spirituality.Simmons creates his depictions of “Everything” within collages on paper and canvas, Ankara fabric, Bogolan mud cloth from Mali, paper cutouts of visible and partially visible faces, Congolese bark cloth, neon lace, gestural lines, and splashes of color on single frames and triptychs.

“Bio Morphe” at Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts (now through December 20)
Art comes alive at the Moody Center with this new show that blurs boundaries between nature, science, and artistic creation. The exhibition showcases seven international artists who make work inspired by nature and biological processes, as well as some who even use biological materials as part of their process. The Moody itself becomes an intrinsic part of the exhibition as large scale sculptures appear to grow from the buildings outdoor pillars and burst from balconies and ceilings indoors. Some highlights of the exhibition are Sui Park’s “Microcosm,” delicate creatures sculpted from zip ties; Lucy Kim’s printed images using Melanin, produced from genetically modified living E. coli cells; and the mammoth, inflatable sculptures of Spanish artist Eva Fàbregas.

“At the Moody our mission is to connect disparate disciplines through the arts, and in so doing illuminate critical questions shared by artists, scholars, and scientists,” says Moody director, Alison Weaver, of the exhibition. “Bio Morphe is an exciting exploration of fields ranging from biology and bioengineering to cognitive neuroscience, and we’re eager to invite our guests to be a part of these ever-evolving conversations.”

''The Jewelry of Dorothea Prühl” at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through January 3, 2027)
The MFAH celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building’s opening with special exhibitions this fall. These long-running shows will highlight some of the diversity and range of their contemporary art collection, which the Kinder now showcases to the world. First up this month is this selection of necklaces and brooches dating from 1976 to 2025 by internationally renowned German jewelry artist, Dorothea Prühl. Working in metal and wood and inspired by nature, Prühl creates jewelry as small sculptures. Comprised of an extraordinary promised gift to the MFAH by the Rotasa Foundation Trust, which has granted the museum the largest single holding of Prühl’s jewelry in the world, this is the first exhibition in the United States dedicated to the artist.

''Material Presence” at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (ongoing)
Keeping the Kinder celebration going, this next exhibition puts a spotlight on contemporary artists who defy traditional frames for the work, be it media or set genres. Instead, these artists work in nontraditional “material,” or use classic mediums like plaster, plastic, canvas, or rice paper in surprising ways. Highlights of the show include Ai Weiwei’s own vision of Claude Monet’s “Waterlilies” created in LEGO® bricks, James Turrell’s mural-scaled “General Site Plan, Roden Crater,” and two of Carlos Cruz-Diez’s signature “Physichromies” pieces.

“The Space We Make’ at Throughline Collective (September 12-October 11)
As the collective art space nears its two year anniversary, they’re celebrating with this group exhibition of work by new and veteran artist members, who have contributed their time, labor, skills, and life experiences toward building Throughline as a place of experimentation, open communication, and new ideas. While the exhibition will present pieces conceived across artistic mediums, they all are in some way influenced by a central Throughline question: What does it mean to work voluntarily and collectively to preserve this autonomy in the present, for oneself and others?

“Chroma Collective” at Discovery Green (September 12-November 2)
Since its opening, Discovery Green has always been a place for art, as well as community. But with the launch of their Art Lab mentoring program in 2024 to support underrepresented local artists, Discovery Green planted art seeds that continue to grow and bloom. The latest harvest to come from the program is Houston-based artist Karen Navarro’s “Chroma Collective,” which Navarro developed in the program with mentoring from Brooklyn-based, internationally renowned artist Jen Lewin, Weingarten Art Group, Houston-based design firm MetaLab and Discovery Green Conservancy. The large-scale installation is composed of two-dimensional imagery, three-dimensional sculpture, and mirrored surfaces, and reflects Navarro’s experience as an immigrant of Latin American, European, and Indigenous descent. Built from a sleek metal frame and UV-printed portraits, the interactive work features columns and panels depicting Houstonians and the artist herself. Walking amid the columns, visitors can rotate the panels to become contributors to how we view the work and the whole Discovery Green landscape.

Untitled Art Fair at George R. Brown Convention Center (September 18-21)
Quite a few years have passed since Houston had a massive contemporary art fair in town, so we marked our calendars for the first annual Untitled Art as soon as it was announced. While GRB will be the art base for seeing the work of Texas, national, and international artists and 88 participating galleries, Untitled Art will also partner with art organizations across the city for special events, performances, and art happenings. Amid the four days of programming look for Special Projects, exhibitions and shows calling attention to key issues through local and international voices, and Houston Artist Market, what seems to be a curated fair within the fair for local artists and collectives to present their work in an accessible, dynamic environment. Untitled will also offer a special podcast for on-site conversations during the fair and four major prizes for artists will be awarded over the weekend.

“Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s” at Menil Collection (September 18-March 1, 2026)
The pioneering 20th century contemporary artist, and Texas-born, Robert Rauschenberg, would have turned 100 this year. Museums across the world are celebrating. As John and Dominique de Menil were early collectors, supporters, and longtime friends of Rauschenberg, of course the Menil Collection will be presenting one of the more unique commemorations of the artist. This special exhibition will focus on Rauschenberg’s work in the 1970s, as he turned to textiles as an art medium. Finding a home away from New York on the Florida Gulf Coast, Rauschenberg began exploring the kinetic possibilities of fabric to indicate movement, as well as a flowing canvas for printing. The presentation features major loans from museum collections and the artist’s foundation. This will be the first museum survey of Rauschenberg’s innovative use of cloth in this era.

“This exhibition looks at Rauschenberg’s fascinating use of woven materials in the 1970s, which reflect his career-long interest in not only the intersection of art and life, for which the artist has become so well known, but his acumen with fabric stemming from his early interest in fashion design and deep understanding of how woven material can so beautifully relate to the body,” describes Menil senior curator, Michelle White, adding, “The artist’s utilization of fabric at this time, along with his engagement with the language of minimalism, provides a new way to consider the artist's work at mid-career, one that anticipates so many contemporary concerns in the decades to follow.”

Photo courtesy of Sapar Contemporary and the artist

Moody Center for the Arts presents "Bio Morphe"

visual-art museums openings

Best October Art

9 must-see October art openings at Houston museums and galleries

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection”

Houston falls into new art realms this month as intriguing new exhibitions open that take art lovers from Earth’s elements, specifically silver, all the way to the Moon.

The Blaffer showcases provocative contemporary artists, and the CAMH gets back to the land. For those looking to start their own art collection, October is also the month for art festivals. Then, in keeping with the collecting theme, the MFAH brings Houston the world class Modernism collection from a true Texas original, Charles Butt.

“Maria Gaspar: We Press Our Hands to the Steel Curtain” at Blaffer Art Museum (now through November 21)
In her artwork, interdisciplinary artist Maria Gaspar considers the concept of walls not just as physical structures but as barriers that can influence individual psyches and even societies. Growing up in Chicago in the neighborhood near the Cook County Correctional Facility, Gaspar became interested in jails and prisons and how they impact communities within those wall and outside of them.

The exhibition brings together sculpture, sound installations, video, archival materials, and participatory projects that draw from Gaspar’s years of collaborative research inside and beyond the jails. A highlight of the exhibition is Clamour, a 60 hour video documenting the demolition of one of Cook County Correctional Facility’s housing blocks.

"Singular Visions” at The Silos at Sawyer Yards (now through November 21)
Sculpture Month Houston celebrates its 10th anniversary with this special exhibition in one of Houston’s most unique art spaces, the Site Gallery housed within the decommissioned former rice silos complex at Sawyer Yards. Participating artists have each taken over one of the cylindrical silo spaces, which allows visitors to enter and engage directly with the art in a truly immersive experience.

Look for work that intrigues as it challenges ordinary ideas of reality from some of Houston’s most dynamic artists, including: Tom Bandage, Michael Bhichitkul, Christie Blizard, Steve Brudniak, Alton DuLaney, Jonathan Durham, Alicia Eggert, Tim Glover, Stephan Hillerbrand + Mary Magsamen, Beili Liu, Steve Murphy, Steve Parker, Gladys Poorte, Chris Powell, Margo Sawyer, Amy Scofield, Zulma Vega, and Ed Wilson.

“Adriana Corral: As Long as Life Endures” at Blaffer Art Museum (now through December 5)
Texan interdisciplinary artist Adriana Corral uses a research-based practice to explore themes of memory, loss, human rights abuses, natural disasters, and hidden histories. Corral’s art installations, sculptures, drawings, and films attempt to unearth and preserve those histories.

The exhibition will feature the new film by Corral, Terrebonne, created as part of her research in coastal Louisiana, where she worked with members of the Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe. The film examines how land loss, rising waters, and ecological collapse disproportionately threaten Indigenous communities. Also on view is a large scale transparent bullet resistant polycarbonate sculpture that references above-ground mausoleums often found in places like New Orleans. The juxtaposition of the material with the form asks viewers to ponder questions of who can afford to buy environmental safety and who cannot.

“A Material Inheritance” at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (now through January 30, 2027)
In celebration of its 25th “silver” anniversary, HCCC presents this once-in-a-generation exhibition that examines silver as material and metaphor. Giving both a bit of a science and art history lesson, the exhibition will explore how, as the Earth’s most reflective element, Silver has changed human cultures. Silver’s unique properties, along with human ingenuity, led to advances in mirror-making, photography, and scientific instrumentation, while its weight, density, and malleability established it as a prime medium for currency, ceremonial objects, jewelry, and treasured heirlooms.

The exhibition will showcase artists who work with silver in a multitude of ways, including: Shane R. Hendren, Edward Lane McCartney, Jaydan Moore, Leah Ying Lin, and Anjali Srinivasan. The selected pieces will span a range of ways to work with silver as a medium, from traditional metalsmithing and jewelry making to experimental glass, ceramic, and kinetic media practices that reveal silver’s remarkable conceptual and material range.

“Divination: Beverly Buchanan & Dionne Lee” at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston (now through February 14, 2027)
This is the second in a series of new exhibitions from the CAMH to bring together the work of artists across decades as a way to open up new interpretations. “Divination” finds thematic and art-making commonalities between photographers Beverly Buchanan (1940–2015) and Dionne Lee (b. 1988, New York City). CAMH senior curator Rebecca Matalon notes that though the artists come from different generations, they both explore relationships between Blackness and the land, share an interest in survivalist practices, and have unique relationships with their environment and landscapes.

The exhibition will showcase Buchanan’s photography of her large-scale environmental works that she began in the 1970s, placing stone-like fragments in remote locations across the Southeast. "Divination" organizes Buchanan’s work in conversation with Lee’s 21st century photography and films that examine what it means to honor the land on which we live. The CAMH notes that the exhibition’s title comes from the idea that both artists created work to uncover hidden histories, but they were are also committed to letting these histories remain out of focus and elusive.

“Wall Drawing Series: Jitish Kallat” at Menil Drawing Institute (now through August 8, 2027)
Since 2018, the MDI has commissioned a contemporary artist to create a new work on an interior wall within the building. Art, Cold War history, and even state secrets merge in “Wall Drawing / Redux: A119,” the latest Wall Drawing Series installation by acclaimed multidisciplinary Indian artist Jitish Kallat.

The time-based wall drawing grows out of Kallat’s interest and research into Project A119, a U.S. Air Force plan in the late 1950s to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon. Of course, the plan was never carried out, but the report on the project was only partially declassified at the turn of this century. For “Redux: A119,” Kallat has layered pages from the A119 report, titled “A Study of Lunar Research Flights - Volume I” with his own drawings and watercolors. The piece was then sheathed in laminated glass, and Kallat and the Menil team collaborated with researchers at Rice University on an electrical system so that the glass changes degrees of transparency every 500 seconds, which is approximately the time it takes sunlight to travel from the Sun to the Moon creating what we see as moonlight.

“Bayou City Art Festival” at Memorial Park (October 9-11)
The annual festival always gives art lovers and collectors a chance to meet artists, view original pieces, and purchase artwork from more than 270 creators across 19 disciplines, including world-class paintings, prints, jewelry, sculptures, and more, at prices for everyone. The fest will feature more than just visual artists, as a wide range of musical artists and bands take the festival stage, and look for roaming entertainment throughout the festival area. The three days also boast a wide range of interactive and educational activities for kids and adults.

Affordable Art Fair at George R. Brown Convention Center (October 15-18)
Presented in Houston for the first time, this fair's name sums up the mission, for the Affordable Fair is set to bring thousands of artworks from around the world. The prices, ranging from $100 to $12,000, will likely entice both the experienced and novice collector.

The fair will feature work from 55 galleries, including 17 Houston favorites, as well as 22 U.S from the U.S and 16 prestigious international galleries. Affordable Art Fair organizers have programmed many special events over the weekend, such as a spotlight on Hispanic and Latin American artists from Houston, Mexico, and Argentina, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month; special installations by artists Kayla Powers, Dan Trelenberg, and Brendan Flores; and a print workshops with PrintHouston. Look also for family hours with KIDO Preschool, Art After Hours evenings, and a Fair Director's Tour.

"American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (October 25-January 18)
As Americans continue to celebrate the nation’s 250th year, the MFAH offers up one Texan’s extraordinary collection of some of America’s greatest artists of the 20th century. While Charles Butt is well admired across the state for his philanthropy, especially when it comes to education, the H-E-B chairman also has a passion for collecting and wants to share that art with other Texans.

The exhibition will give MFAH visitors new insights into the extent of American artistic diversity in the 20th as it showcases over 80 works of art by such greats as Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and Andrew Wyeth, as well as Texas artists like Everett Gee Jackson and Mary Bonner. "American Modernism" will likely also give attendees a glimpse into Butt’s own vision and focus, as it is organized into five intriguing thematic sections reflecting Butt’s life-long passions including: Intimate Perspectives, The Language of the Sea, Land Progressions, Geometric Utopias/Dystopias, and New Directions.

“More than a textbook survey of American modernism, the Charles Butt Collection shows many of the artists at turning points in their careers, with signature works and intimate sketches that encompass a remarkable range of expression and achievement,” MFAH curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Alison de Lima Greene said in a statement.

$The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection\u201d$

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection.”

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